Botf as a browsergame

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gumba
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Botf as a browsergame

Post by gumba »

Hi everyone.

As a huge fan of botf i was thinking about cloning botf as a browser game. It would make the game way more flexible and way more easy to be edited. Since i work as php developer for a living, i dont see that much trouble with the programming but with the gamestats and the game idea itself.

So, this thread is ONLY about the idea itself. Its no promise and its NOT about right choice of programming languages or whatsoever.

First of all. I wouldnt be using the trek universe. Thats just because I dont want to finance some lawyer´s life. I know - it sounds disappointing, but thats just the way it is. I dont know about an open source develepoment in that case.

Now there r two ways to make this game work.

First: It could be cloned as it is. Limited to 5 players.
As you guys know, internet users are impatient. This could maybe end in 20 pending games without any game having enough players. This way, however, is the most easiest the build, since the gameplay has allready been designed. It would need to be changed in some minor ways. The major change would be the absence of the trek universe and probably the breakdown to 1 "race". At least in the beginning. This will and could be changed in the future. Means: The balancing terror would commence as soon as the "core" is up and running.

Secondly: It could be build as a continuous game. There are several advantages and disadvantages to this one.

Advantages:
- Its fast to join
- There is more "life" in it
- the longterm motivation is probably higher, if there are still goals to achieve as a high level player
- you dont have to wait for some1 to finish his turn, the clock will do it for you

Disadvantages:
- OGame allready exists and doesnt need to be cloned one more time. Thats for sure.
- the rounds would have to be time based - otherwise u´ll wait ur ass off
- empire expansion needs to be limited
- the total destruction of players needs to be off limits


And so on and so forth.

Last thing i would like to put to a discussion is the universe itself. It would be very interesting if the universe would be "3d" itself. Like:




This isnt that easy to build in a browser, but would be possible. IMO this would add some tactics to the game. The picture is an illustration of the idea only. ;)

I would love to hear your thoughts about the two possible ways to build this game. But please keep in mind, that we are talking about a browser game (not talking bout flash here). There wont be any 3D battles, nor crazy sounds. And dont get the wrong impression, that this would be finished within some weeks.
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Peter1981
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Post by Peter1981 »

recomend non- cartesisan interface if you do go the 3d route try galactic center polar or spherical

why not make all races major ie playable (like Europa Universallis) I'd love to play as a minor race (like the Vulcan)

If you want to avoid lawer's fees and make a star trek version find out about how star trek new voyages got the rights to make new star trek universe episodes and publish them not for profit on the web!!
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gumba
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Post by gumba »

Peter1981 wrote:why not make all races major ie playable (like Europa Universallis) I'd love to play as a minor race (like the Vulcan)
That would be a nice idea. But incredibly complicated if every race has its own stats. In other words, it would just be makeup.

Btw EU has a terrible GUI. The tutorial alone consists of 6 parts. Im really not surprised i heard from this one the first time.
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Post by KrazeeXXL »

hm you could play a browser game almost everywhere. even w/o pc.

last browsergames I played were PA (Planetarion) and MW (Mechwars).

PA got too much into the players direction. too much bots, statistics and a gameplay which became annoying compared to that of the year 2k. and MW was the total opposite. damn raw, funny but with ugly formulas and it's inventor was (too) pig-headed. :/

I like the idea in general but you need lots of ressources to come to an(y) achievement.

Ppl who have a clue about programming, Server and last but not least: time. (just to name a few)

it'll become very fast a professional project. and this means in most cases trouble ;)

then the no Star Trek idea... aren't there enough non Star Trek games of this kind outta there already?

I know colleagues who are playing one atm. but forgotten it's name. Looked very impressive.

Flocke told me about one which is for years in development. and it is doubtable that it'll be ever completed.

can't tell you if you'll find some ppl here willing to support you. botf modding in the rare spare time is one thing but starting a complete new project w/o Star Trek content(?) is another.

to say it again. I really like the idea. but it'll eat up hours. lots of 'em.
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Post by Peter1981 »

EU is incredible if you play as sweden :)
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Post by gumba »

KrazeeXXL wrote:Ppl who have a clue about programming, Server and last but not least: time. (just to name a few)

it'll become very fast a professional project. and this means in most cases trouble ;)

to say it again. I really like the idea. but it'll eat up hours. lots of 'em.
I don´t doubt that. Thats why I lowered time expectations right from the start.

Right now im in the brainstorming phase. If it really catches me, i will spend a considerable amount of my spare time. As I mentioned before I don´t really see issues with technical part.

So, I really wanted to discuss the game idea itself.

About the trek or no trek issue. I still have to check whether a non-profit project could use the trek universe, or not (Peter1981 pointed this one out). If I can use the stuff in a non profit project, ill be more than glad to use it.
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Post by KrazeeXXL »

gumba wrote: So, I really wanted to discuss the game idea itself.
ok. then to come back to the Star Trek content
gumba wrote: About the trek or no trek issue. I still have to check whether a non-profit project could use the trek universe, or not (Peter1981 pointed this one out). If I can use the stuff in a non profit project, ill be more than glad to use it.
lots of browsergames started as non-profit games iirc. first thing you need is ppl. with ppl there will come ideas ;) - even more important for a game w/o trek content.

I just can talk for myself but I mainly bought BotF because of its Star Trek content. I wanted to play Star Trek. Wanted to discover things I've seen in the shows. Lead the ships too battle I admired. So for me personally Star Trek content is a must.

I dunno if it'll be possible to develop such kind of a game as open source or similiar "non-profit" project. I guess it depends in which country you live/work/save-host your work ;)

btw. I like the idea of playing a minor. Would be funny to get a vulcan empire or something like that. Or a Breen Empire. so if a race is militaristic and expansionist then it should expand imo :)

every season of such a browser game could be an alternate reality/parallel universe to the ST we know.
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Post by gumba »

KrazeeXXL wrote: I dunno if it'll be possible to develop such kind of a game as open source or similiar "non-profit" project. I guess it depends in which country you live/work/save-host your work ;)
That would be Germany.
KrazeeXXL wrote: btw. I like the idea of playing a minor. Would be funny to get a vulcan empire or something like that. Or a Breen Empire. so if a race is militaristic and expansionist then it should expand imo :)

every season of such a browser game could be an alternate reality/parallel universe to the ST we know.
There is so much potential in this idea for special events, like an Borg invasion (if the game is continuous) and other neat stuff.

The main question which is the most annoying for me right now is: aim for a clone, or aim for a continuous game ?
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Post by ruthlessferengi »

As long as it is reliable mp game with 2d strategy / 3d combat. In star trk universe you can't go wrong dude... could I play it on my droid? :)
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Post by gumba »

ruthlessferengi wrote:As long as it is reliable mp game with 2d strategy / 3d combat. In star trk universe you can't go wrong dude... could I play it on my droid? :)
gumba wrote:But please keep in mind, that we are talking about a browser game (not talking bout flash here). There wont be any 3D battles, nor crazy sounds.
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Post by ruthlessferengi »

Then what's the point of trying? Take away 3d battles and botf is nothing but a lame buggy game ... how do you resolve borderline equal fleet action?
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Post by gumba »

Thats the point of this thread. To discuss the game idea itself. Plz stop the nagging. Its a browsergame.

From my point of view, the 3D battle never had been this important to your overall strategy. Its been a nice makeup.

There r two ways to solve this one:

- auto-fight (Ogame does that)
- 2d fight with fixed positions of certain units (Ikariam does that, it leaves surprisingly much room for tactics)
how do you resolve borderline equal fleet action?
I really don't know what u mean by that. I hope I answered it above.

My very first question still bothers me. Should it be a continuous game, or limited to a small amount of players, which have to wait for each other to end each turn ? Pro, Cons ?
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Post by ruthlessferengi »

dude, as a heavy end-user of this game i can assure you that without 3 d combat botf will stop being anything close to the game that we all've came to enjoy... if you have 9 cardies HC VS ten romulan bc, the game can turn in favour of one or the other depending on the tactical approach, whether ram is used etc... or squad of elite raider II ferengi vs 2 squads of cardie destroyer... how do you intend to resolve this without tactital screen? nagging is one thing but what you are suggesting will change the game in more sense than cosmetic.... the game is decided on who takes over the planet - at least in an MP setting... for AI = well, this games runs well on atom processor smoothlh and you don't need a browser version to have the stable game ... but i've been wrong before, so good luck on your enterprise:) but if you want an opinion of someone who played this game seriously at one point in my life, then there you go...
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Post by Flocke »

think it's due to the topic
it simply won't be botf :lol:

and I havn't read anything that would make it outstanding in some way compared to the already available masses.
With not even having a star trek content, such a project might called to be inspired by botf, but actually it's absolutely unrelated.

However, have a good go :mrgreen:
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Post by gumba »

Flocke wrote:think it's due to the topic
it simply won't be botf :lol:

With not even having a star trek content, such a project might called to be inspired by botf, but actually it's absolutely unrelated.
Im allready a little tired of quoting myself and others here. Plz take a look at the suggestion of Peter1981. This isnt out of the question yet.
ruthlessferengi wrote: how do you intend to resolve this without tactital screen?
Nobody said there there will be no tactical screen a priori. I appreciate your opinion and your input.

Still, im outta here. Im in a brainstorming phase to collect ideas, possible solution and not problems. Ill try to harvest them somewhere else.

Thank you all, especially KrazeeXXL and Peter1981.
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